From amongst 234 submissions from across Canada, three winners have been chosen for the 150 My Canada art show at TOSH.
With artists asked to create images that represent Canada to them, everything from trees to streams to images of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, and even a large painting of Flyin’ Phil St. Luke found a place in the exhibit.
Sixty-five pieces are now on display until August 7, of which 55 were juried in and 10 chosen by lottery.
Gerda Hofman, one of three judges choosing the three winners and three honourable mentions, said it wasn’t an easy task.
“We were, all three judges, impressed, and we had a pretty hard time picking winners,” said Hofman, an internationally exhibiting artist.
Together with Merv Brandel and Don Farrell, they chose Martha Jablonski-Jones’ Towards Victory Square as the first place winner.
“OK, it’s a back alley, right?” said Hofman. “Every city in Canada has back alleys. And it, to me, it is so Canadian.
“A few weeks ago I was in Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal, and you see the same kind of back alleys over there too. It’s a beautiful painting. It’s very good composition. And the colours, execution, we all three were in agreement.”
Second place went to Eunmi Conacher’s oil painting called Sooke Winter — an abstract piece — while Leslie Gregory Morgan’s From Far and Wide won third with a colourful composition featuring various recognizable buildings and symbols from across Canada.
Honourable mentions went to Andrea Kennedy for her collage Ware is Hell, Cindy Mersky for her mixed media piece Ray of my Prairie Soul and Lynn Orriss for her mixed media piece The Maple Leaf Forever.
First prize was $800, second $500 and $300 for third. Each winner will also receive a commemorative vase created by First Nations artist Terry Jackson.